


Family Matters

by longforthepast



Category: Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Absolute Carnage, Blending of Canons, Gen, Issue 18 Predictions, Vague MCU Reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-11-02 02:04:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20584829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longforthepast/pseuds/longforthepast
Summary: Dylan Brock and Normie Osborn are sure that death is coming for them when the Carnage-infested Phage comes to Rex's hideout. An old family member of Dylan's makes an appearance and reveals some uncomfortable truths.





	Family Matters

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my awesome beta princess-of-peachtrees on tumblr, you reviewed this with so little notice and i'm so grateful for that

Dylan stood tall, shaking knees betraying the brave face he put on at the sudden appearance of the black and green symbiote. Phage lay slumped on the floor at Sleeper’s feet unmoving with their neck contorted in an awkward position. 

“Are they,” Normie asked, “dead?”

“Unconscious,” Sleeper said. They kicked the orange alien to the side. “And they’ll stay that way as long as I’m here. Now, we’ve got to leave.” 

“Why aren’t you...crazy like the rest of them?” Dylan asked. 

“It’s a long story,” Sleeper said, glancing behind them. A few tendrils shot out from their back and dragged a heavy crate in front of the ruined door. 

“Well you said that they’d be out as long as you were here, so I don’t see why you can’t tell it,” Dylan said, sitting down on the floor and dragging a gun that was far larger than he was in front of him. Slowly, Sleeper sat down across from him, far enough away so that their brother wasn’t uncomfortable but close enough to continue talking quietly. God, they had a brother that wasn’t a homicidal maniac, this was fantastic.

“Well, it started with me leaving home. I roamed the galaxy for some time, unsure of my place in it, of symbiotes.” Normie came and sat down behind Dylan, both boys giggling at how dramatic Sleeper was. “The Horde tried to claim me in order to aid them in their fight. I did not understand, but in its thrall I saw its truth, what that lie of a planet held at its core. I heard its sleeping prisoner’s voice– What?”

“Nothing!” Dylan said, stifling his laughter, “You just talk like someone out of a soap opera.”

Normie nodded, “one of the historical ones.”

“Definitely not the point.” Sleeper said, urgency creeping into their voice, “Regardless, I could tell you such stories, but then across the Void I felt it, something pulling me, speaking to me, calling me. Telling me that that planet was home, it said that it was coming, and that it would be free.”

“What did you do?” Dylan asked, leaning forward as if this was not a life and death situation but rather a story told around a campfire. 

“I burned away the connection by secreting a powerful Badoon Acid with my chemokinesis–”

“Your what?” Dylan said.

“My unique ability to produce chemicals from my form. I knew I’d be needed back here when the King in Black arrived and so I raced back, only to find you.”

“Soo, you’re my big brother’s kid,” Dylan said, “What does that make us, cousins?” Sleeper blinked a few times in surprise, how could he possibly not know? Klyntar DNA ran through him as well so how on Earth could Dylan not realize that they were brothers?

“Ah, I’m not quite sure that’s accurate,” Sleeper said, not wanting to be the one to tell Dylan. “I share more DNA with their other, Venom, than I do with Eddie. We are surely related, but I do not think cousins is the best way to describe it.” 

“Okay, so who are you though? Like underneath.”

“My host is a Kree soldier named Tel-Kar,” They began peeling back, allowing Dylan and his friend to see, “Though as you can see, I am the one in control.” The two children cried out at the sight of the mummified skeleton, the one who was not their brother turning away to empty the contents of his stomach onto the floor. 

“Dude! That’s freaky!” Dylan exclaimed. 

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. Tel-Kar’s body has long since died, It is rather, gruesome, I suppose,” Sleeper said, silently cursing human’s inability to deal with the macabre, “ Though I wonder.” They tasted the air. Dylan would be a near perfect match. “If I couldn’t be of greater service with a new host.” They extended a tendril through the air toward Dylan. They promised themself, they would not manipulate him. It was bad enough that they’d had to manipulate their parents into letting them leave. Both of them would be furious if they found out that Dylan hadn’t been of sound mind when agreeing to this. “After all, we are stronger when we aren’t alone.”

Dylan reached out a hand toward the tendril, eyes wide with curiosity. He pulled back suddenly. 

“Why me?” 

“Because, we are related. Distantly!” Sleeper said, “And if we were to bond we’d be as well matched as my parents are.” 

“How do I know you’re not doing that chemoki-thesis or whatever?” 

“Believe me, if I was manipulating you, you wouldn’t even be able to think about that possibility.” Dylan narrowed their eyes at Sleeper, leaning forward as if to study them. A moment passed, the only sounds the muffled fighting coming from the other side of the shredded door. 

“Fine, let’s do this,” Dylan said, sticking a hand out. Immediately, Sleeper leapt off of Tel-Kar and began the process of bonding with Dylan. They wrapped around his arm, tackling him to the floor as an explosion rocked the complex. With a few tendrils, they pulled the other child under them, and sheltered around them both, bonding to Dylan all the while. 

_ “You’re not my cousin.”  _ Dylan thought, voice ringing out through their bond as clear as a bell. 

_ “No, I’m not,”  _ Sleeper replied.  _ “How did you know?” _

_ “I don’t know, I just, felt it.”  _ Dylan pushed to his feet as Sleeper finished enveloping him. He lifted their hands, looking at the now neon green clawed appendages.  _ “Why wouldn’t he tell me?”  _

_ “I cannot answer that, though knowing our father he was likely afraid you were going to get hurt,”  _ Sleeper said. They gave Dylan the distinct impression that they had to leave. 

_ “What about Normie? Carnage is after him and The Maker wants to put him in the S.C.I.T.H.E,”  _ Dylan said. The two of them directed their attention to the other child in the room, who was now quaking with fear. 

_ “We can keep him hidden from Carnage,”  _ Sleeper said,  _ “He’s coming with us.”  _ They pulled back from Dylan’s face, allowing Normie to see that everything was alright. 

Dylan extended his hand out, trying to convey that it was safe to come with them. 

“No way,” Normie whispered, “I’m staying here.” 

“It’s either The Maker or us,” Dylan said, glancing at the crate that had been blown to hell and back in front of the door. 

“Oh, Osborn child,” The Maker called, “The machine works, though not without some – unforeseen consequences.” Normie froze, eyes wide. 

_ “Oh screw it,”  _ Sleeper thought, and Normie dropped to the ground, unconscious. They engulfed Dylan fully and scooped the child up in their arms. 

_ “What the hell was that?”  _ Dylan shrieked as Sleeper leapt through a window and they began swinging across the city, following a path of familiar pheromones. 

_ “Chemokinesis, I told you,”  _ Sleeper explained, stopping on a water tower and turning invisible,  _ “I gave him a light sedative. We needed to get out of there or we all were going in that thing and I think we both know what that explosion was.  _ They peeked out from around the water tower, and seeing that Carnage’s creations were gone took off again, landing quietly on the roof of a bus headed for Westchester. 

The Ravencroft Institute was silent. No guards at the gate, no patients in their cells as Sleeper and Dylan crept through the halls. 

_ “They should be here,”  _ Sleeper said. 

_ “Who?”  _

_ “Our parents,”  _ Sleeper helped direct Dylan’s attention to the paths of pheromones in the air.  _ “That one is our parents.”  _ It was black and gray, with a distinct purple hue running through it as well.  _ “That one is Carnage’s creations.”  _ A whole host of colored strands wrapped in a blood-red.  _ “That one is unfamiliar, but it carries traces of our other parent.”  _ Dylan looked long and hard at the blue and yellow strand with faint impressions of black speckled through. 

_ “That might be Spider Man,”  _ he replied,  _ “Eddie went to him for help with this.”  _ Sleeper nodded in understanding when a scream pierced the air. They took off at a run, maintaining their invisibility. They came into a room overflowing with Carnage’s creations and the man of the hour himself looming over Venom and Spider Man.

“Dad!” They cried, releasing a powerful sedative, knocking out the Carnage-creations all at once. 

“Oooh, little brother’s come to join the fun,” Carnage said as Venom and Spider Man called out, telling them to run. “Now who all have you been in so I can rip every-last piece of you out of them.”

“Not many. Eddie. Tel-Kar, but he’s been incinerated,” Sleeper started before peeling back to reveal Dylan. 

“And me.” 

“Dylan are you out of your mind? Get out of here!” Venom cried. They peeled back from Eddie’s face as the man tried to rush towards the two. Spider Man held them back. 

“Eddie no, you are not just giving yourself up for your kid, we all need your help,” he groaned, strength only going so far against the desperate parents.

“Dad, it’s fine, we’ve got this,” Dylan said with a nervous smile before Sleeper enveloped them again and they disappeared. Eddie slumped to the ground, Venom still enveloping the majority of their body, watching but not seeing as Carnage was hit by invisible punches. 

“Hey, uh, Eddie, I don’t know if you’re in there or whatever,” Spider Man said as he waved a broken hand held together by webbing in front of his eyes, “but I’m gonna go help your kids, we could use your help too.” With that, he shot two lines of webbing to the walls and slingshotted himself feet-first into Carnage’s head. An invisible punch sent the murderous symbiote flying back to the other wall like a ping-pong ball. Spider Man quickly pulled himself up to the ceiling to avoid the monster. Hanging by two legs, he scrolled through options on his web-shooters he hadn’t needed in years: splitter, rapid fire, web grenade before finally coming to taser webs. 

“Clear!” he called, firing as he dropped off the ceiling, landing in front of Venom as they finally pushed themselves up. The webs made contact with Carnage’s shoulders and delivered around 400volts of power directly to the symbiote. The sound they made was agonizing to hear, pure pain echoing through the cement cell. Norman was released from his hold, limp and Peter shot forward to catch him. 

“Easy, Gobby,” he said, hefting the man over his shoulder and feeling for a pulse. Finding none, he sighed and readjusted the position. “Sleeper, you good?” 

“We’re fine!” they replied, standing on the other side of the unconscious, power-mad symbiote, “we’ll help keep them down but we need to go.” 

They hurried around Carnage’s body, which was already beginning to stir and helped to support Venom as they stumbled out of the institute alongside Spider Man. 

“Where’s Normie?” Spider Man asked. 

“The old fire station, he’s got a water hose set up facing all the entrances,” Sleeper replied, leading the way back through the maze of tunnels They came to the window they’d entered from and far slower than they’d come in, made their way out, closing and locking it behind them. Once they were outside, the light of the full moon shining down upon them, they all collapsed in a heap, leaning on each other and nursing their respective injuries. Spider Man sat Norman Osborn against a tree. 

“You hurt?” Eddie asked as Venom and Sleeper pulled back from their hosts heads, allowing the two to talk easily. Dylan shook his head, looking as the bruising on Eddie’s face cleared before his eyes 

“We should leave,” Sleeper said, manifesting a head and peeling away from Dylan a bit more. “They’ll be up soon.” 

“There’s a town not far from here, we can rent a car there,” Eddie suggested. 

“With whose money and what ID?” Spider Man asked. “I don’t have the cash for that, can’t drive and don’t really feel like revealing my identity to these two.”

“Alright Pete,” Eddie smiled, watching with a smirk as the masked hero started to protest, “we’ll go pick up Normie and grab a bus.”

“Pete?” Dylan asked, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that only came with being nine. 

“Yeah kid,” he replied, pulling his mask off, “The name’s Peter Parker, your brother and I went to school together and he was kinda a dick.”

“Hey!”

“Still is.”

They headed toward the road Norman dead from stress and carried over Peter’s back, Sleeper and Venom within their hosts. Venom acted as clothing for Eddie and Sleeper manifested around Dylan as a black sweatshirt that looked to be dripping with green paint. Peter went ahead, mask back on. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Dylan asked quietly. He looked to Eddie, with tears in his eyes. Eddie looked back and opened his mouth as if to say something before closing it. 

“I was scared.” Eddie reached out and put an arm around Dylan, pulling his son close. “People who get too close to me tend to get hurt and I figured if I kept you at arm’s length you’d be safe. Wouldn’t get dragged into the whole hero thing.”

“Okay, you are not a hero and you know it,” Peter said turning around.

“Shut up, we’re doing our best over here.” The group walked on in silence, Peter still struggling with Norman. “What’s wrong? Too heavy for ‘ya?”

“No, he’s just bony,” Peter huffed, readjusting the body again. “Are you sure we couldn’t just leave him?”

“We can’t let Carnage get any more codicies,” Eddie replied, “and since there is one more in existence,” he shot Dylan a dirty look, “it’s even more important to keep them away from him.” 

Dylan and Eddie boarded the bus with Normie after picking him up and Peter sat up top with the body of Norman Osborn and keeping watch. Normie sat up front near the driver, watching out the window before falling asleep. 

“I know you were scared, but I wish you’d told me,” Dylan said. 

“I should have told you, you deserved to know.” Eddie put his arm around Dylan and watched in amusement as Venom and Sleeper both manifested heads and rubbed against each other, communicating silently. “I do wish you hadn’t bonded to Sleeper though.” The symbiote in question reared their head up, conveying betrayal without really having a mouth, or eyebrows, or any facial expressions needed to do such a thing. “Not that I don’t absolutely love both of you, but you just put a huge target on both of your backs.”

“I’ve had one for a long time, as has Dylan,” Sleeper said. Eddie scrubbed his face with one hand.

“See, this is why I was scared of letting you know,” he said.

“He would have had a target even without knowing us,” Venom said, “he is as much my son as he is yours.”

“What?” Eddie and Dylan asked simultaneously.

“Dylan is yours and Anne’s yes,” the symbiote explained, “but the codex left in Anne bonded to you before you were fully formed. You are my child as well.” Venom snuggled around Dylan’s neck, pulling Sleeper in close as well before puppeting Eddie into the hug. 

“At least two of our kids turned out normal,” Eddie said, laughing in spite of the situation. Dylan and Sleeper laughed and Venom gave a weak exclamation of protest. 

“Love you dad,” Dylan muttered. 

“I love you too,” Eddie smiled.


End file.
